Abstract
Soil loss and sediment yield affect most of our reservoirs globally. Sediments deposited in water bodies, especially reservoirs can reduce reservoir useful life through loss of storage. The main objective of the study was to estimate soil loss and sediment yield of the proposed earth dam in Mntjuzalala Catchment, in Ngololweni chiefdom, Eswatini. The study employed the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), runoff plots, and satellite images for the analysis. Using ArcGIS, land use/land cover (LULC) results indicated that there was a significant change between 1988 and 2018. Grassland cover was observed to have decreased from 39.8 to 18.5%, while bushland increased from 13.3 to 37.1%. Cultivation also experienced an increase in recent years, from 3.2 to 21%. This was due to an increase in settlements from 11.5 to 19.7%, which resulted in increased human activities, thus reducing wetland from 32 to 4.5% in between the study period. From estimated soil loss, it was observed that the annual average sediment yield was 82.04 tons/year and Sediment Delivery Ratio (SDR) was 0.46; thus, sediment deposit on reservoir site was 30.19 tons/year. The sedimentation rate/annual storage loss was estimated at 1.55% per annum, which would lead to 50% of the reservoir storage having been lost after 32 years when the annual sediment deposition is 1946.75 m3. In terms of sediments sources, it was observed that this earth dam site is adjacent to gullies and cattle tracks which are active sources of sediments during the rainy season. From the soil erosion and sedimentation outcomes, there is a need to implement sustainable land and water management measures in the catchment. This should include activities on soil conservation and sediment retention structures, development and implementation of chiefdom development plan as well as improved institutional arrangements.
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Hlanze, D.K. et al. (2023). Estimating Soil Loss Rate and Sediment Yield of the Proposed Ngololweni Earth Dam, Kingdom of Eswatini. In: Das, J., Bhattacharya, S.K. (eds) Monitoring and Managing Multi-hazards. GIScience and Geo-environmental Modelling. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15377-8_3
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